A dress, nearly every day.

Friday Shoeblogging

Those new to the blog are probably unaware of my devotion to the One Perfect Sneaker, the Converse Jack Purcell. (I still wish I'd bought these.)

I bought the above pair a couple weeks ago on eBay, but when they arrived, they turned out to be the wrong size! (The box was mislabeled. Oh noes!) Luckily the seller (DesignerAthletic) was able to exchange them for me, and my right-sized pair arrived yesterday.

Are they, or are they not, the perfect autumn sneaker? They're teal-frackin'-velvet, people! I am going to wear them with an orange corduroy skirt and a fuzzy brown sweater over a teal t-shirt and be blissfully happy scuffling through the falling leaves.*

*For those readers in Australia, I suggest buying a pair now and waiting to wear them until your autumn.

I bought sneaks similar to these several years ago — grey velvet beauties. I loved loved loved them, but when I put them on, they were like boats. They were like heavy, ponderous stumps at the ends of my legs.Not the look I was going for.I gave them away, sadly, as I did love the idea of the sneaker. Just not the execution.

I wear a women’s 8.5, but the Purcells run a bit big, I think. So I usually get a men’s 6.And yes, they are boatlike, but for me that’s part of the appeal. Kind of an “I am Woman, Feel Me Stomp” thing.

At the Converse web site, you can design your own Jack Purcells. As an experiment, I just designed up a pair in all black with my nick-name embroidered in red on the heel strip – quoted price: $60 US, delivered in 3 to 4 weeks. (Granted, you can get some better deals on eBay.)http://www.converse.comWarning: This is a web site with “way cool” navigation (AKA “mystery meat navigation”) that drives me nuts. Search for 100679 to see a pair of patchwork Jack Purcells. You can pick the Design Your Own option right from the shopping cart navigation “thingee” .Happy Designing,CMC

I am in the rehearsal phase of the production “Nunsense”, where Sister Robert Anne traditionally wears red Chuck’s. Not one to be conventional, I chose a pastel plaid high-top Chuck, which delighted my director and me, since I get to keep ’em after the show. What was even better was they were only 24 buck at Overstock.com. ;)Love the velvet-

I’d like to see some pictures of dresses and skirts with sneakers. I can never pull that off, and I always end up favoring the sneakers and putting on jeans. The new (to me at least) ballet flat style shoes has become my answer. Old Navy has a ton that are sooo adorable and cheap enough to buy a pair for every dress. 🙂

Hi! I found your blog a couple weeks ago, and I’m lovin’ it! If you didn’t have any, now you have at least one brazilian fan :)I found this link today, don’t know if you have seen it yet, ‘people’s magazine ten best dresses of 2007’. Hope you like it!( http://www.people.com/people/package/gallery/0,,20055119_20056265,00.html )

Converse, any Converse, is great, although I’m more of a Chuck Taylor person myself. Oddly enough, I wear Converse because I have very narrow (and small, men’s 4) feet. Perhaps Chuck Taylors tend to be narrower that Jack Purcells…Anyway, hooray for sneakers!

I DID buy the Liberty Jack Purcells. (I’m a Liberty fan.) And…they’re slightly too small. Grrrr! I wore them for a day before I figured it out, also, so I couldn’t return them. The kill my feet after an hour or so, but they’re so beautiful. Because of all the rubber, you can’t stretch them like you would leather shoes. Anyone know a way to make them a little bigger? BTW, I love those teal velvet ones, but I’ve learned my lesson.

This has nothing to do with sneakers BUT if you go to the Vogue PAttern site – you can get a free pattern JUST for visiting. You have to click on a pattern and put it in your cart. If it’s free it will tell you. You just pay shipping. I found V2858 – only $3 for shipping! Free PATTERN!

Speaking of ballerina flats, have you seen the new Purcell “dance” flats? They look like ballerina flats, but are Jack Purcells…sort of. They’re on the Converse site, in the Purcell area, check them out. Wonder if they’re comfy? Recently Converse came out with Chuck Taylors cut out to look like espadrilles, with long laces to tie around. I liked them, but never could find any in my size.

Those are lovely shoes. Alas, I’m a Chuck Taylor gal myself (Jack Purcells just don’t fit me well). My favorite Chucks ever are black velvet, bought in 1995. They are unwearable now (too many holes) but I still hang on to them and hope that Converse will produce identical ones someday. As for skirts and sneakers–I’ve been wearing the slip on chucks with casual skirts and it looks alright. I wear the little socks that barely peek over the top of the shoe.

Whomever mentioned the free patterns at VoguePatterns, thanks. I’ve got V8232 on the way now! :)And Erin: those shoes just exude Fall Joy. My personal favorite scampering shoes (that can still go with dresses!) are the Skechers Step Up! mary-janes with a sneaker sole and a double-top strap. They’re much more delicate in real life than most sporty mary-janes. See here:http://www.zappos.com/n/p/p/7256818/c/325.html